title: The importance of a prior psychiatric examination in pegylated interferon and ribavirin combination treatment for chronic hepatitis C.
abstract: Some patients receiving pegylated interferon and ribavirin treatment for chronic hepatitis C are forced to discontinue the treatment due to psychiatric disorders. We performed a retrospective study to evaluate whether pre-treatment psychiatric examinations could increase successful completion rates for this treatment.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 535 patients who started pegylated interferon-α-2b and ribavirin treatment at 6 hospitals affiliated with our hospital were included in this study. The patients were divided into two groups. Those who had visited a psychiatric clinic before treatment were Group A (N=223), and those who did not visit a psychiatric clinic before treatment were Group B (N=312). We analyzed the rate of discontinuation due to psychiatric disorders in the two groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The rate of discontinuation due to psychiatric disorders in Group A was found to be significantly lower than that of Group B (1.8% (4/223) vs. 6.1% (19/312), P=0.035). In Group A, 6.1% (4/65) discontinued the treatment due to psychiatric disorders, while the comparable rate in Group B was 27% (19/68) (P=0.0004). Among patients who presented with psychiatric symptoms during treatment, the rate of treatment completion was significantly higher in Group A than in Group B (69.2% (18/26) vs. 5.0% (1/20), P=0.0067). In patients with a history of psychiatric symptoms, no discontinuation due to psychiatric disorder was observed in Group A.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A psychiatric examination before pegylated interferon and ribavirin treatment was found to positively contribute to the successful completion of the treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Kurume University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan. snb11332@nifty.com
authors.forename: Koichiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kuhara
authors.forename: Tatsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ide
authors.forename: Naohisa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Uchimura
authors.forename: Ryukichi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kumashiro
authors.forename: Teruko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Arinaga
authors.forename: Ichiro
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Miyajima
authors.forename: Shiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Murashima
authors.forename: Kei
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ogata
authors.forename: Reiichiro
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kuwahara
authors.forename: Keisuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Amano
authors.forename: Yukari
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fujimoto
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sakai
authors.forename: Kunihide
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ishii
authors.forename: Yasuyo
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Morita
authors.forename: Miki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shirachi
authors.forename: Michio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sata
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications*; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence / Q000523:psychology*; D001523:Mental Disorders; D008875:Middle Aged; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012254:Ribavirin / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000009:adverse effects; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D000077190:Interferon alpha-2; D016898:Interferon-alpha; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D011092:Polyethylene Glycols; D012254:Ribavirin; C417083:peginterferon alfa-2b